- originally published
in The Invincible Iron Man #1-19
(Marvel, 2008-09)

Writer: Matt
Fraction/Artist: Salvador Larroca

Fucking awesome mature
(as in MATURE) superhero action. First, Tony Stark faces his worst fears when
terrorists use Iron Man technology to create bloody mayhem around the world.
Seems an old enemy’s son has decided to target Stark. Then, following the
Skrull invasion, Stark and SHIELD are out, Norman Osborne and HAMMER are in.
Tony decides to stop Osborne from accessing top-secret documents by storing
them in his brain, then slowly deleting the info using Iron Man tech. Only
problem is, the process is making him dumber and deader by the minute. How can
Stark – using increasingly older and more outdated Iron Man armour – defend
himself against the likes of the Sub-Mariner, Madame Masque, Crimson Dynamo and
Osborne himself in the guise of the Iron Patriot?

- originally published
in The Invincible Iron Man #20-33
(Marvel, 2009-11)

Writer: Matt
Fraction/Artists: Salvador Larroca; Jamie McKelvie

Graphic Ink: The DC
Comics Art Of Darwyn Cooke (DC, 2015) *****

- originally published
in a bunch of comics (DC, 1985-2015)

Read my blog review HERE.

Batman: Ego And Other
Tails (DC, 2007) *****

- originally published
in Batman: Ego, Selina’s Big Score
and other titles (DC, 2000-05)

3 comics

The Twilight Children
(Vertigo, 2016) *****

- originally published
in The Twilight Children #1-4
(Vertigo, 2015-16)

Writer: Gilbert
Hernandez/Artist: Darwyn Cooke

Darwyn’s final project
and it’s a fitting tribute to his genius. Gilbert’s magic realism doesn’t
always grab me in Love And Rockets, but here married to Darwyn’s extraordinary
art helps take it to another level. Love, lust, betrayal, aliens, CIA agents
and weird glowing orbs make this book a must-read.

The best comic series
out there continues to bring me great joy. After a few missteps in volumes four
and five, this one is a fine return to great form. Just perfect. Sci-fi,
romance, war stories, erotica and, now, Orange
Is The New Black makes this the genre mash-up to beat all mash-ups.

The Wild Party
(Pantheon Books, 1994) *****

- originally published
in 1928

Writer: Joseph Moncure
March/Artist: Art Spiegelman

Incredible re-release of
a classic poem about a debauched party. Art has done so many illustrations for
this version that it’s practically a graphic novel. So I’m including it here.

Fantastic work by the
great man and a satisfying conclusion to this brutal, at-times offensive, but
always entertaining series.

Sink
#1 (Comix Tribe, 2016) *****

Writer: John
Lees/Artist: Alex Cormack

About as violent and
disturbing a comic as I’ve read this year. Horrifying in parts – you’ll never
see Glasgow in the same light again.

Hieronymus
(Knockabout, 2015) *****

Writer/Artist: Marcel
Ruijters

An “unauthorised” – yet
thoroughly researched – biography on one of the great Dutch artists, Hieronymus
Bosch, who captured Medieval hell on Earth in his frightening paintings.
Mega-talented Ruijters captures Bosch’s everyday life, and it’s pretty horrible
– but it provided plenty of inspiration for his horrific art.

Goldtiger
(2000AD, 2016) *****

Writer: Guy Adams/Artist:
Jimmy Broxton

This mock biography of
an obscure, Modesty Blaise-style
action strip from the 1960s is pure brilliance. Just read this article to get
the full story about this fascinating project.

I’d already read four of
these issues (because they took so damn long to come out I thought I’d avoided
that particular reprint and had hit all-new issues. Wrong! Still, it was great
to reread this whole chapter again in one hit. Amazing story. Some real
bastards down south, y’all. Hey, we know that even better after the US
election, right?

Nailbiter Vol. 5: Bound
By Blood (Image, 2016) *****

- originally published
in Nailbiter #21-25 and Nailbiter/Hack/Slash one-shot (Image,
2016)

Writer: Joshua
Williamson/Artist: Mike Henderson

Rules Of Summer
by Shaun Tan (Lothian, 2013) *****

This is fabulous.

The Sixth Gun Book 9:
Boot Hill (Oni Press, 2016) *****

- originally published
in The Sixth Gun #48-50 (Oni Press,
2016)

Writer: Cullen
Bunn/Artist: Brian Hurtt

The Saviours
(Image, 2016) *****

- originally published
in The Saviours #1-5 (Image, 2016)

Attack On Titan
Anthology (Kodansha Comics, 2016) *****

Writers/Artists: various

Huck Book 1:
All-American (Image, 2016) *****

- originally published
in Huck #1-6 (Image, 2016)

Writer: Mark
Millar/Artist: Rafael Albuquerque

Invader Zim Vol. 2
(Oni Press, 2016) *****

- originally published
in Invader Zim #6-10 (Oni Press,
2016)

Writers/Artists: various

The Rattler
(Image, 2016) *****

Writer: Jason
McNamara/Artist: Greg Hinkle

I bought this graphic
novel for Greg’s art, but Jason’s supernatural noir tale is gripping. I loved
the tale, which reminded me a lot the original film version of The Vanishing.

Power Man And Iron Fist
Vol. 1: The boys Are Back In Town (Marvel, 2016) *****

With special guest
stars...Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones...well, interstellar versions of them
anyway. Did you know Howard’s life is being run by intergalactic creators, who
throw all sorts of weird shit at him like The Collector and mentally unstable
Sentinels? Yep, this final arc gets very meta as Chip and Joe deal creatively
with the idea of a HTD series being cancelled...again. Very enjoyable if sad.
Still, with a bit of luck, he’ll be back one day. Howard always comes back.

The Unbeatable Squirrel
Girl Vol. 4: I Kissed A Squirrel And I Liked It
(Marvel, 2016) *****

- originally published
in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #7-11
(Marvel, 2016)

An original hardcover
graphic novel because too much Squirrel Girl is never enough. This pisstake on
The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe sees Doreen get taken down by the only
person powerful enough to do so: her evil clone. What happens when Bad SG (aka
Allene) attempts to defeat every superhero and super-villain in the world?
Well, she does so with ease. This novel is such a delight to read. Such a
delight.

I honestly wondered
whether kids would appreciate SG, despite seeing all those pix in the letters
pages of young girls cosplaying as Doreen, because there was too much back
story and SG history to take in. And then the other night I was looking for the
graphic novel, turned around and found my nine-year-old daughter reading it.
Jones quite liked it and is now reading Vol. 4 (yes, she’s reading the series
backwards. So sue her). Anyway, despite not knowing anything about Doreen or
her supporting cast, she thinks the series is “good”. So there you go.

Deadly Class Vol. 4: Die
For Me (Image, 2016) *****

- originally published
in Deadly Class #17-21 (Image, 2016)

Writer: Rick
Remender/Artist: Wes Craig

Speaking of bleak, this
series is about as dark as it comes. I mean, I’m not sure how Remender can keep
the series going when the three main characters FUCKING DIED in the final issue
of this arc. High school sucks at the best of times, but when it’s a school of
assassins and the only way to graduate is to kill the non-affiliated freaks and
geeks, it’s MURDER. Just love Deadly Class – top-notch art and storytelling.
I’m genuinely looking forward to finding out where Remender goes from here.

Velvet Vol. 3: The Man
Who Stole The World (Image, 2016) *****

- originally published
in Velvet #11-15 (Image, 2016)

Writer: Ed
Brubaker/Artist: Steve Epting

A.D. After Death Book One
(Image, 2016) *****

Writer: Scott
Snyder/Artist: Jeff Lemire

One of the most
extraordinary, moving comics I’ve read in some time. Beautiful. I can’t wait to
read the next book.

WORST of 2016:

Nameless #6 (Image, 2015) DUD

Writer:
Grant Morrison/Artist: Chris Burnham

Unfathomable,
tedious, odious, needlessly gory shite of the highest order. Morrison
disappears up his own anus once again. Avoid.

I don’t ask much from a
wrestling comic except be well-written and well-drawn. Aski fails in both
categories. But even bad artwork can be forgiven if a story makes sense and is
fun to read. But this comic is just shit on every level. Poorly structured
action scenes that succeed in both being mundane and predictable. A plot that hinges
on our hero’s friends being two of the dumbest arseholes on the planet is also
a turn-off. When a luchador says, “Don’t
go into the jungle – it’s full of criminals and dangerous animals”, don’t then
deliberately ignore him, get attacked by a deadly animal and kidnapped by
criminals. That doesn’t make you plucky and gutsy adventurers, it makes you
FUCKWITS. Anyway, this comic is terrible.

AWF: Amazon Wrestling
Federation #1 (Xigency Studios Inc., 2013) -*

Writer/Artist: Joe D.
McFee

This weird, slightly
fetishy comic shows the very worst of what’s on offer at Comixology. Poorly
drawn, badly written tale about an Amazonian college basketballer in love with
a nerdy tutor who wins a wrestling promotion in a poker game (I’m not kidding
here). At the same time, the basketballer decides to become a pro wrestler. The
sheer amateurishness of this comic is positively painful. Somehow, this comic
reached four issues!

Worlds Collide
#1 (DC/Milestone, 1994) DUD

Writers/Artists: various
and shit

I only bought this crap
for the free stickers. Godawful crossover – no wonder Milestone folded. It
should stay folded.